Manufacture of composite steel plates



March 30, 1948. B L EBowTz 2,43s,759

MANUFACTURE OF COMPOSITE STEEL PLATES Filed May 21, 1941 II/III IIIIII/III/fl ,III/Il 'II/III Yll/l INVENTOR ATI'ORNEYS Patented Mar. 30, 1 948 'UNITED STATES PATENT. oFFlcE a &438.759 MAN'UFACTUBE OF COMPOSITE STEEL PLATES I Benjamin Liebowitz, Lewisboro, N. Y. Application May 21, 1941,-Serial No. 394508 15 Claims. l

This invention relates to the manufacture of composite steel piates. I will describe this invention principally in connection with composite light armor plate, for which it is of particular utility. although the invention is not necessarily limited to this particular field.

At the present time there are two types of light armor plate in use, one known as case hardened" and the other as "homogeneous" The case hardened plate is made by using a so-calied "carburizing" alloy steel which is carburized on one surface to a depth in the neighborhood oi 20 or 30% of its thickness. This plate is hardened by heating and quenching and then given a light "draw" which leaves the plate with a very. hard outside surface and a tough hacking. Homogeneous armor plate consists oi a tough steel throughout. In the lighter gauges, say, up to /4 inch in thickness, the case hardened plate has stopping 'power for a given thlckness than the homogeneous. but has a tendency to "shatter" and/or f'spal" when struck by a projectile of greater energy than the stopping power 'of the plate. Many attempts have been made heretoiore to make armor plate that is better than the "case hardened" or "homogeneous" armor piates by welding together, face to face. a plate of hard steel and a plate oi soft steel by means of rollwelding. But. so far as I am aware, this has not heretoiore been accompllshed. The primary object of this invention is to overcome the dimculties hitherto experienced and to produce composite armor plate, sheets, strips, and the like, which have improved properties, as will hereinafter be described.

By way oi a deflnite example. I will describe armor plate comprising two specific steels, viz.. a hardenable die steel of the following approximate composition:

Per cent Carbon 0.95 Manganese 1.60 Molybdenum 0225 and a tough steel of the following approximate composition:

I Per cent Carbon 0.20 Nickel 1.80 Molybdenum 0.25 Manganese 0.55

These percentages give the principa alloylng elements and may vary. oi course, according to commerclal tolerances. The first of these steels is known in the trade as Ryalloy. the second as S. A.

much greater 2 E. Speciflcation #4620. It must be definitely understood, however, that my invention is by no means limited to these specific materials.

The problem of face-to-face welding of these two steels or similar combinations with sumclent bond strength for ballistic purposes has been solved by this invention. One of the main features of this invention, as will hereinaiter be more fully described, consists in first superposing the steels and iorming, by rolling or otherwise, a preiminary bond between the two faces, then subjecting the combined plates to a "heat soaking" for several hours at a temperature in the neighborhood of 2200 F., so as to establish a carbon gradient between the hard steel and the tough steel. thereby minimizng the abrupt change in properties which would otherwise occur at the interface. After the establishment of the carbon gradient, the composite material is rolled to its final thickness. This feature and other features of the invention will become clearer from the further description and by reference to the drawings,

in which Figure 1 is a perspective view, partly in crosssection, of a "sandwic prepared for roll weld- Figure 2 is a perspective view, partly in crosssection of a box construction containing piates ready for roll welding;

Figura 3 is a diagrammatic representation in section showing the carbon gradient in the diiiusion zone between welded piates, and

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional View of an embodiment of my invention comprising more than one zone of union between unlike steel piates.

Reierring to the Fig. 1, l--l represents a pair of slabs of tough steel, and 2-2 is a pair of -slabs of hard steel. (The word "hard" is used throughout as a designation whether or not the steel is in its hardened state. A similar remark apples to the word "tough.") As indicated, the two hard siabs are placed between two tough slabs which overhang the former all around so as to allow space for the union bars 3. Between the two hard slabs a layer of weld-preventing material, such as magnesium oxide, is placed, as indicated at 4. i

' be rendered clean and free oi' scale by the surfaces to be welded and thereb interfere with the welding process. A suitable method consists of grlndlng the sui-faces with the flat rim of a cup-shaped wheel. It any oxide forms during this process on account of the heat generated in the grinding, it should be removed by means of a. lighter grinding operation Or the surfaces may machinin or by other suitable methods.

In the preparation ot the surface I have found ing serves to protect the steel temporarily against rusting or tormation of invisible oxides during subsequent processing' and handling prior to or during the scaling or the sui-faces in the sandwich.

Instead of forming a sandwich, such as shown in Fig. 1, I may make a box ol' steel as shown in Fig. 2, where the tough steel is shown at o-o, and the hard steel at |2-|2, with the weldpreventing layer between the two hard steels at N. The box consists of an upper cover plate ISA and a lower cover plate IB. joined by side layer also between each cover plate and its adjoinlng steel, as indlcated at |9-|9. It will also be understood that in the box method I may enclose any number of pairs of hard and tough plates to be welded together with 1035 or 1045, "straight carbon" steel.

While the sandwich method of rolling is not novel, the box method illustrated in Fig. 2 is new, so far as I am aware. In this box method. it will be understood, the entire container is rolled with the steel inside until the hot rolling operations have been ambient atmosphere in the furnace and, at the temperatures employed in this process, a consid- While scaling can be reduced surface with this is advantageous particularly when small pieces are involved,

ing can, however, be obtalned at tures above 2150 F. temperatures ordinarily is deslrable.

prefer to work the be called the "safe" After the Sandwich as shown in Flg. heated in a, furnace to a temperature of about 2200" F., and is then roughly, half (in this mesme method:: until its thickness has been reduced to. first rolling the amount of reduction may be varied over a fairly wide range) After this first preliminary rolling I put the assembly back into the furnace and maintain it at of approxmately 2200 F. for several hours. Under these conditions there is a fairly rapid mgration of the carbon from the high carbon hard steel into the low carbon tough steel. Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic representation corresponding to a microphotograph showing the extent to which carbon migrates from the hard high carbon steel plate !I steel 2! in a period of 3 /2 hours at a temperature of 22oo F. to forma diifusion zone of material and substantial thickness. The scale of the drawing is such that the region labeled "diflusion zone" is approximately .08 to .oo" thick. as was actually ascertained in this case. The arrows indicate the approximate position of the original interface between plates 20 and z.

The existence of this diifusion zone is of great importance both for the snbsequent operations in manufacture and ;for the properties of the final plate. one of the dimculties which has not hitherto' been recognized in the roll-welding of composite plates arises from the fact that the hard steel is much less plastic at final-rolling temperatures than the tough steel. As a result of this there is a tendency during subsequent rolling for creepage to occur at the welded interface and this creepage inturn tends to weaken or even destroy the weld that had previously been made. By virtue of the carbon gradlerit, however, there is a more or less gradual change in plastic properties from the hard steel to the touch steel and the difficulties arising from' differential plasticity during subsequent rolling to final thickness are thereby minimiaed or obviated. By actual experiment I have found it possible to make welds in this m'anner whose strength is, as nearly as could be determined, approximately equal to that of the hard steel and, thereiore, greater than that'of the touch steel. A weld whose strength is at least equal to that of the weaker of the two components welded together may properly be called isosthen-ic" (Greek, combining form "iso" noun "stenthos" meaning strength) and this term is used in the speciflcation and claims with this meaning. Furthermore, the avoidance of an =abrupt change in mechanical properties at the welded interface s of value for balistic purposes also. It is known that discontinuities of any sort create concentrations of stress. By avolding the discontinuity or abrupt change in mechanical properties which would otherwise occur in the composite plate. I likewise minlnize the concentration of stress that wo ld otherwise occur, and hence substantially improve'the ballistic .properties of the plate. i

Composite armor .plate containing a diifusion zone of material thickness in the region of the interface between welded plates of hard and tough steel, when properly heat-treated, exhibits high resistance to armor piercing projectiles and is highly resistant to shattering or spelling. In order that these properties may be attained it is important that the steels of the hard and soft plates be in efiect blended together in the region of the welded interface with essential continuity of metal structure. During the "heat soak" the high-carbon steel loses carbon to the low-carbon steel in the region of the welded interface and forms a diffusion zone in this region, the result to the soft lower carbon v to strains up to and being a gradual decrease or gradient of carbon' content from the body portion of the hard steel to the body portion of the soft steel. The resulting composite armor plate is the'eby enabled to withstand the very severe treatment for which it is designed without failure at the zone .of union between the hard and soft plates. In this connection armor plate is designed to be subjected beyond, the maximum stresses that the steel will stand. The requirements for armor plate are. the'efore, entirely different from the requirements of steel for ordinary purposes. Thus, in the fabrication of corrosion-resisting or "stainless" steel articles comprising a' hacking sheet of steel and a surfacing or cladding of corrosion-resisting steel, requirements for the bondbetween the hacking and the cladding steels need not be of very high strength, since such articles ordinarily are manufactured with a good safety factor, and the bond between the two metals, therefore. is not subjected to great stress. In the case of armor plate, however. there is no safety factor and the weld, or zone of union, between hard and soft steels should be such that the weld. or zone of union, will not fail under stresses up to the maximum that the steel will withstaud. According to the present inventlon, I have produced composite armor plate wherein the hard and soft plate elements are united in this way. So far as I am aware, this has not previously been aocomplished.

It will be obvious that in composite plates made according to my process a section taken at any place in the plate would show under microscopic examinatlon substantially the same diflusion zone as in That is to say, the difiusion zone in my composite plates is substantially uniform laterally throughout the plates.

of course, there may be some differences between the depth of the diflusion zone in the center as compared with the edges, due to the fact that the edges will heat up more rapidly than the center in bringing the piece up to the temperature of the "heat soak," but these diflerences will be of a minor magnitude, and I may therefore describe these diffuslon zones as "laterally uniform," with the implication that it is not strictly uniforn but substantially so.

The two steels selected for description illustrate a further factor which is usually present, that the hard steel and the toughsteel will differ in their composition in other respects, besides the difference in carbon content. Other alloy elements, like manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum and vanadium, will also dififuse under the "h'eat soak." While such difiusion is very slow,

' compared with the rate of carbon difiusion, nevertheless there is some diffusion of these other ingredients which is also beneficial to the bond.

The .thickness of the carbon diil'usion zone or gradient region is determined by various factors, e. g., the temperature of the heat soak, th'e time of the heat soak, and the subsequent reduction after the heat soak. It also depends upon the difference in concentration of the substance in question between the united plates. No specific limits on the ultimate thickness of this difiusion zone can be given as it will naturally vary to a very great extent with th'e properties desired and with the final thickness of the plate, but, in any case, a diffusion zone of substantial and material thickness is produced. The specific times and temperatures mentioned above are intended for illustrative purposes only.

It will be understood that after the rolling operations are complete the sides ot the sandwich, shown in Fle. 1. are trimmed away so as to remove the side bars 3 and the ove-h'anslng portions ot the tough plates The sandwlch then separates into two composlte plates which are then fabricated to desired form and size. after which the material is heat treated, as will be on the hard face, and a Brinell or about 250 to 350 on the tough face. Likewise, in the event which can then be rabrlcated and as described above.

I have described my invention in with composlte avoid too much hard plates.

such internal important where the individual plates are thin.

The "heat soak," described above, will tend to enlarge the grain size of the steel. This disadvantage, however. can be overcome by proper selection ot final ro temperatures and by proper heat treatment, as is well known to those skilled in the art.

Among other advantages of my invention, it should be mentioned that the hard-face steels pensively) because oi the extremely prolonged heating necessary for the carburization. method should be materially less expensive than or proportions. While this invention has been described prli marily in connection with armor plate, the feapermanence is sheets, strips, or other in chemical composition by at least one chemical element or substanca.

In the speciflcation and in the clalms, the word "plate" ls used in a broad sense as embracing plate. sheet, strip, or the like.

While this lnvention has been I claim:

'placing said surfaces 'together and excludingthe ambient atmosphere from said surfaces. then welding said surfaces by hot rolling the assembled plates, subjecting the composite plate including the welded interface to a. temperature of about 2100 F. to about 2300 F. until a carbon diffusion zone of i substantial thickness is formed in the region of said interface, and thereafter subjecting the composite plate to further hot rolling.

2. In a process according to claim 1, the exclusion of ambient atmosphere from the other parallel surface of the steel plate of higher carbon content during the rolling 'and heat treatment steps. 3. In a method of manufacturing composite plates by welding together at their interface at least two steel plates which differ substantially in 1their carbon content, the steps comprising placing said plates face to face and excluding ambient atmosphere from said contacting faces and from the other parallel face of the plate of higher carbon content, heating the assembly to a temperature above the safe temperature of the plate of higher carbon content, then working the assembly to form a preliminary surface-tosurface weld between the two plates at their interface, and thereafter subjectlng the plates including the region of the preliminary weld to sustained heating at a temperature at which there is substantial migration of carbon from the plate of higher carbon content to the plate of lower carbon content to form a difiusion zone of substantial thickness in the region of said interface.

4. In a method of manufacturing composite plates by welding together at their interface at least two steel plates diifering in their chemical composition with respect to at least one alloying "element, the steps including placlng the plates -in a steel box, the interior of which is sealed from ambient atmosphere and the cross-sectional area of the metal of which is at least 25% of the total cross-sectional area, heating the box and plates contained therein to a temperature above the safe temperature of at least one of the plates, then rolling the assembly at such temperature 'to form a preliminary surface-to-surface weld between the two plates at their interface, and thereafter subjecting the assembly including the region of the interface to sustained heat to form a diffusion zone of substantial thickness in 'the region of the interface with respect to said alloying element.

5. In a method of manufacturing composite plates by welding together at their common interface steel plates which differ from each other in chemical composition with respect to at least one alloying element, the steps of first forming at elevated temperature a preliminary surface-tosurface weld'between said plates at their common interface, and then subjecting the resulting composite plate including the region of said surface-to-surface welded interface to sustained heating at a temperature at which thereis substantial diffusion of said element between said plates in the region of said welded interface.

6. In a method comprising the steps of claim 5, the carrying out of said first step of forming a preliminary surface-to-surface weld at the common interface between said plates by working said plates at elevated temperature with exclusion of ambient atmosphere from the surfaces at the common 'interface to be welded, and wherein,

zone is formed, subiecting the composite plate to further working at elevated temperature.

7. In a method comprising the steps of claim 5, the carrying out of the first step of forming a preliminary surface-to-surface weld at the common 'interface between said plates. by working said plates at eievated temperature with exclusion of ambient atmosphere from the surfaces at the common interface to be welded and from the other face of at least one ofvsaid plates, said plates being worked as aforesaid at a temperature above the safe temperature of the protected plate.

8. In a method of manufacturing composite plates by welding together at their common interface steel plates which difler from each other in their carbon content, the steps of first forming at elevated temperature a preliminary surfaceto-surface welded bond at the interface between said plates and then subiecting the resulting composite plate including the region of said bondedinterface to sustained eievated temperature to form acarbon diffusion zone of material thickness at the region of said bonded interface.

9. In a method according to claim 8, the performing of said second step at a temperature of about 2150" F. to about 2300 F.

10. In a process of manufacturing composite steel plates according to claim 8, the performance of said second step at a temperature at which there is substantial migration of carbon content from the plate of higher carbon content to the plate of lower carbon content and until a dife fusion zone of substantial thickness is formed in which the carbon content decreases continuously from that of the body portion of the plate, of higher carbon content to that of the body portion of the plate of lower carbon content.

11. In a process of manufacturing composite steel plates, the steps according to claim 8 and, following the step wherein the diffusion zone is formed, again working the composite plate at elevated temperature.

12. In a process according to claim 8, the subjecting to the said steps of at least two plates of hard steel arranged alternately with at least two plates of tough steel of lower carbon content than v the carbon content of the hard steel, and the formation of said carbon diflusion in the region of each interface between said hard and said tough steel plates.

13. In a method comprising the steps of claim 8, the carrying out of said first step of forming a preliminary surface-to-surface weld at the common interface between said plates by working said plates at elevated temperature with exclusion of ambient atmosphere from the surfaces at the common interface to be welded, and wherein, prior to said first step, the surfaces to be welded are cleaned so as to remove substantially all impurities, other than impurities in the metal of the plates themselves.

14. In a method comprising the steps of claim 8, the carrying out of the first step of forming a reliminary surface-to-surface weld at the common interface between said plates, by working said plates at eievated temperature with exclusion of ambient atmosphere from the surfaces at the common interface tobe welded and from the other face of at least one of said plates, said plates being worked as aforesaid at a temperature above the safe temperature of the protected plate.

15. In a process of manufacturing steel plates, the steps according to claim 8. and wherein the following the second step wherein the diffusion u surfaces to be united are cleaned and. while clean 12 and free of oxde, are coated with a light coverlng Number Name Date o! hydrocarbon prior to placing said surraces to- 1,016,560 alolettl Feb. 8, 1912 gether and rormng a surface-to-surtace weld 1341418 Glolett Nov. 5, 1912 therebetween. .886.615 Johnson Nov. 8, 1932 BENJAMIN LIEBOWITZ. 5 1396411 Mash-ey Feb. 7, 1933 1.956,88 Ac-e May 1, 1934 REFERENCES CITED 2,os,725 Johnson et al Oct. 29, 1935 e followln references are of r or nthe &079313 1118013011 May 2 1937 fl f this pat en g ec d &19137 Hop ins Feb. 2', 1940 o 2,226,403 Hopkins Dec. 24, 1940 UNITED STA'I'ES PATENTS &241.270 Nlpper May 6, 1941 Number Name Date 2349329 Hopkins July 15, 1941 362306 Wilson May 10, 1887 371.129 Dyer' Oct. 4, 1387 omm nm 529.050 Tresldder Nov. 13, 1894 s ract. Me allur y. an om ac s Pub- 9os,846 D'adda, Dec, 15, 1903 nshed 1940 by Cleveland Soc. tor Metals, pp. 456, '967.146 Simpson Aug. 9. 1910 457. 

